Persons with temporary or long term physical limitations that affect the ability to control movement, such as movement of the jaw, lips, tongue and throat, may have difficulty eating and drinking. Often these limitations affect the person's ability to close the lips, to chew, to move ingestible materials in the mouth and throat and/or to apply suction to feeding implements, and may require a liquid diet. Such limitations may also increase the likelihood of choking or aspiration if ingestible fluids are provided too quickly or directed straight to the back of the throat. To avoid these problems, it is preferable that the ingestible fluids be directed through the mouth to the side of the back of the throat. However, it is difficult to control the output volume and direction of flow of current feeding devices, such as syringes or squirt bottles. Other traditional feeding devices, such as bottles with straws, require the ability to apply suction and to close one's lips about the device, which may be difficult or contraindicated for those with temporary or long term physical limitations.
To this end, a need exists for an improved apparatus for providing fluids orally to persons having physical limitations in a controlled and directed manner. It is to such apparatus that the inventive concepts disclosed herein are directed.